Bar Exam Day 1
I took the first part of the bar exam (the essay part) today. It was rough, for various reasons.
First, I had to get up early this morning, which absolutely isn’t my thing. I’ve been working on readjusting my sleep schedule, but so far, it isn’t happening. As a result, I had trouble sleeping, so I went over some essay questions and hints last night while watching Cartoon Network and finally turned the lights off at around 3:30. The alarm was set for 7AM, since there was an option of filling out a card to have breakfast delivered at a certain time. Unfortunately, they were running behind so even though my breakfast was scheduled to be delivered between 7-7:30, it didn’t show up till 7:46. Registration was supposed to start at 7:50 and end at 8:15. The good news was that I only had to run down to the hotel lobby.
I only had a few minutes to eat breakfast and ended up accidentally knocking a glass of water on the floor. It broke and I didn’t have time to clean it up, so I had to leave Ashley to deal with it.
I was a little worried about getting there on time, but I felt a lot better when I saw two other people carrying computers and plastic bags...and they had no idea where to go. At least I could read the schedule.
Anyway, the organization was a MESS. The registration was supposed to start at 7:50 and apparently no one was there. It was supposed to end at 8:15 and at 8:15, there huge line and people absolutely filling up the hall. To further complicate things, there were various lines for different last names (A-C, D-H, etc) and no one knew this at the back so they weren’t feeding in properly... It was miserable. It was crowded and hot and overall awful.
Finally, at around 9, everyone ends up in the exam room...BUT apparently a good chunk of people weren’t computer savvy enough to start the exam software. So cue about half an hour of people waving their red sheets (sign for tech support) to get help. I suppose part the problem might have been computer problems, but mainly? I think that a lot of people were unable to follow basic instructions. “WAIT! WHAT DO THEY MEAN BY TYPE CLOSED IN THE BLANK AND CHECK THE BOX THAT CONFIRMS CLOSED?”
Anyway....the exam FINALLY starts. That went okay. Six state specific essay questions in three hours... The problem kicked in about midway through the exam. We were taking it in a ballroom with at least two hundred people....probably more. I assume that under normal circumstances, people moving around in the ballroom would have led to things getting pretty hot. However, when all those people are sitting quietly, it gets pretty cool. They had the air conditioning up really, really high and everyone was freezing. The guy sitting across from me kept rubbing his hands and blowing on them. I think the temperature was between 50 and 60.
I was pretty cold during the lunch break and it was cut short because of the delay in registration. So basically, I had time to eat and thaw out a bit, then head straight back down.
After lunch was the multi-state exam...and it was even colder. I was so cold that I had trouble concentrating and when I finished a little over half an hour earlier, instead of going over the answers and trying to get something else written, I gave up. I was miserable and I decided to cut my losses and head up to thaw out, get some rest, and work on my multiple choice exam stuff.
When I got up to the room, I felt like I had been out in freezing weather. It took over an hour to warm up and my arms and legs were icy. I took a quick nap and when I woke up, I had a fever. Of course.
I’ve took some Aleve and Ashley and I went out to Olive Garden for dinner (She treated!). After that, we hit Half-Price books for a few minutes and then hit Meijer to pick up a few things...namely a watch and something to wear tomorrow. The problem is that I can’t wear a jacket or hoodie with pockets, so that limited my options. For instance, I have three great hoodies and none of them worked because they all had pockets. We found a lighter hooded sweatshirt with no pockets and a heavy sweater. If they’d had gloves, I swear I would have bought them, too.
With any luck, I’l be able to get through tomorrow. I’m really not sure what’s going to happen with the exam at this point, since now I’m just feeling sick and tired. Still, I’m going to go over a few things, chill out, and take the exam tomorrow. In about eight hours, I’ll start the exam and in sixteen hours, it’s all done.
I just REALLY dread it.
First, I had to get up early this morning, which absolutely isn’t my thing. I’ve been working on readjusting my sleep schedule, but so far, it isn’t happening. As a result, I had trouble sleeping, so I went over some essay questions and hints last night while watching Cartoon Network and finally turned the lights off at around 3:30. The alarm was set for 7AM, since there was an option of filling out a card to have breakfast delivered at a certain time. Unfortunately, they were running behind so even though my breakfast was scheduled to be delivered between 7-7:30, it didn’t show up till 7:46. Registration was supposed to start at 7:50 and end at 8:15. The good news was that I only had to run down to the hotel lobby.
I only had a few minutes to eat breakfast and ended up accidentally knocking a glass of water on the floor. It broke and I didn’t have time to clean it up, so I had to leave Ashley to deal with it.
I was a little worried about getting there on time, but I felt a lot better when I saw two other people carrying computers and plastic bags...and they had no idea where to go. At least I could read the schedule.
Anyway, the organization was a MESS. The registration was supposed to start at 7:50 and apparently no one was there. It was supposed to end at 8:15 and at 8:15, there huge line and people absolutely filling up the hall. To further complicate things, there were various lines for different last names (A-C, D-H, etc) and no one knew this at the back so they weren’t feeding in properly... It was miserable. It was crowded and hot and overall awful.
Finally, at around 9, everyone ends up in the exam room...BUT apparently a good chunk of people weren’t computer savvy enough to start the exam software. So cue about half an hour of people waving their red sheets (sign for tech support) to get help. I suppose part the problem might have been computer problems, but mainly? I think that a lot of people were unable to follow basic instructions. “WAIT! WHAT DO THEY MEAN BY TYPE CLOSED IN THE BLANK AND CHECK THE BOX THAT CONFIRMS CLOSED?”
Anyway....the exam FINALLY starts. That went okay. Six state specific essay questions in three hours... The problem kicked in about midway through the exam. We were taking it in a ballroom with at least two hundred people....probably more. I assume that under normal circumstances, people moving around in the ballroom would have led to things getting pretty hot. However, when all those people are sitting quietly, it gets pretty cool. They had the air conditioning up really, really high and everyone was freezing. The guy sitting across from me kept rubbing his hands and blowing on them. I think the temperature was between 50 and 60.
I was pretty cold during the lunch break and it was cut short because of the delay in registration. So basically, I had time to eat and thaw out a bit, then head straight back down.
After lunch was the multi-state exam...and it was even colder. I was so cold that I had trouble concentrating and when I finished a little over half an hour earlier, instead of going over the answers and trying to get something else written, I gave up. I was miserable and I decided to cut my losses and head up to thaw out, get some rest, and work on my multiple choice exam stuff.
When I got up to the room, I felt like I had been out in freezing weather. It took over an hour to warm up and my arms and legs were icy. I took a quick nap and when I woke up, I had a fever. Of course.
I’ve took some Aleve and Ashley and I went out to Olive Garden for dinner (She treated!). After that, we hit Half-Price books for a few minutes and then hit Meijer to pick up a few things...namely a watch and something to wear tomorrow. The problem is that I can’t wear a jacket or hoodie with pockets, so that limited my options. For instance, I have three great hoodies and none of them worked because they all had pockets. We found a lighter hooded sweatshirt with no pockets and a heavy sweater. If they’d had gloves, I swear I would have bought them, too.
With any luck, I’l be able to get through tomorrow. I’m really not sure what’s going to happen with the exam at this point, since now I’m just feeling sick and tired. Still, I’m going to go over a few things, chill out, and take the exam tomorrow. In about eight hours, I’ll start the exam and in sixteen hours, it’s all done.
I just REALLY dread it.